Twitter changes logo and name: What are some examples of company rebranding fails?

Twitter’s new logo is the shape of an “X”. The change stems from Musk’s desire to turn Twitter into “X, the app for everything.”

It comes just weeks after Meta’s launch of the microblogging platform, Threads - Twitter’s direct competitor and also represents the latest move in a series of controversial changes, such as limiting the number of tweets a user can view and paying a monthly fee for account verification.

Musk’s fascination with the letter X comes as no real surprise. The letter has been present in several of his businesses, including SpaceX and the Tesla Model X.

Often, a fresh start is beneficial for companies, but at times, even the top branding agencies, consultants, and those in marketing, simply get it wrong.

Here are three of the biggest rebranding failures.

TGI Fridays

TGI Fridays have been serving food since 1965, and is a favourite for many, however, in 2020 they embarked on a rebranding journey that turned into a failure.

Their change in logo saw them move from their famous red and white to a duller black and white. The TGI was also removed from the logo to just a ‘Fridays’.

The chain is generally referred to as ‘TGI’s’ or ‘TGI Fridays’ and by reducing the name down to Fridays, it can be misleading.

Cardiff City

When owner Vincent Tan took over the Welsh soccer club, he decided to drastically change their identity.

‘The Bluebirds’ were known for their blue kit and blue logo. In a bid to become just like the Welsh flag, he decided to change the club’s colours to red.

In a hugely unpopular move, Tan added fuel to the fire by keeping a small blue bird at the bottom of their predominately red logo.

The rebrand cost an estimated $100 million and left fans of the Welsh capital club fuming.

They have since gone back to their famous blue.

Gap

In 2010, clothing brand Gap launched a new logo design after 20 years with the original logo. The new logo was the word Gap in a bold font and a square, fading from light blue to dark blue.

The new design did not go down well with customers. Gap responded by revealing that the new design was indeed the first stage of a crowd-sourcing process.

Just six days later, Gap reverted to their original design, admitting that the previous work was not the way forward.

The Gap rebrand reportedly cost the company $100 million.